The Functioning of Democracy
Insights from Michigan’s local leaders
CLOSUP’s Functioning of Democracy Project sheds light on the health of democracy at the local level in Michigan, drawing directly from the voices and experiences of the state’s elected and appointed local officials.
Powered by the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), this project provides invaluable data, resources, and analysis for students, faculty, policymakers, and community members to understand how American democracy is functioning at the local level. Explore our findings, take a deep dive into the data, and join the conversation about U.S. democracy as part of the University of Michigan’s Democracy and Civic Engagement Initiative.
The MPPS Democracy Compendium
The MPPS Functioning of Democracy Compendium is a comprehensive summary of the findings from many of the democracy-related topics asked of local officials on the MPPS questionnaires from 2009-2024.
Topics include: citizen engagement, civil discourse, harassment experienced by local public employees, trust in government, redistricting, and more.
For more information about the Democracy Compendium, contact Dr. Debra Horner at [email protected]
The project was featured in the Michigan Township Association's February 2021’ Township Focus magazine. View the article
Democracy across the urban-rural divide
Do people from urban and rural places think differently about governance?
This divide is commonly attributed to politics, demographic differences, population density, land use, and prevailing industry, contributing to different policy preferences and participation in government. While much attention is drawn to areas of disagreement, there are areas where Americans share common ideals.
This divide is commonly attributed to politics, demographic differences, population density, land use, and prevailing industry, contributing to different policy preferences and participation in government. While much attention is drawn to areas of disagreement, there are areas where Americans share common ideals.
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Using data from previous iterations of the MPPS, Dr. Sarah Mills led a team of Ford School students in conducting in-depth analysis to identify where there are and—importantly—are not differences along the urban-rural continuum, as it relates to the functioning of democracy at the local level.
Results of the project were presented on November 16, 2020. View the video recording.
- Powerpoint slides (in PDF format)
- Elected Officials’ Perceptions of Civic Discourse with and among Residents across the Urban-Rural Spectrum
- Perspectives on Public Participation Across the Urban-Rural Spectrum
- Comparing Citizen Engagement across the Rural-Urban Spectrum
- Internet Access and Connectivity across the Urban-Rural Spectrum
- Privatization of Local Government Services: Understanding Differences Across Michigan’s Urban-Rural Spectrum
- Student Paper Series
- Elected Officials’ Perceptions of Civic Discourse with and among Residents across the Urban-Rural Spectrum
- Direct Democracy in Action: Comparing Citizen Engagement efforts across the Urban-Rural Spectrum in Michigan
- Internet Access and Connectivity across the Urban-Rural Spectrum
- Privatization of Local Government Services: Understanding Differences Across Michigan’s Urban- Rural Spectrum
For more information about this urban-rural continuum project, contact Dr. Sarah Mills at [email protected]
- Powerpoint slides (in PDF format)
Public use datasets to study the functioning of democracy
These free and easy-to-use datasets and their accompanying codebooks can be downloaded immediately by anyone for analysis in Stata, SPSS, or as CSV files. They contain only portions of each survey, broken into themed collections of data. For more information about the MPPS Public Use Datasets, contact Natalie Fitzpatrick at [email protected].
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Datasets containing democracy-themed survey topics include:
Public Use Datasets
Citizen Engagement
Fall 2012
Fall 2016Civic Discourse
Fall 2012
Spring 2018Assessments of local jurisdiction internal relations
Spring 2018Election Administration
Spring 2017U.S. Census
Spring 2010
Spring 2019Ethics and Accountability
Fall 2014Assessments of Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Fall 2016Police-community relations
Fall 2015Trust in federal, state, and local governments
Spring 2009
Spring 2013
Fall 2016Trust in citizens
Fall 2012
Fall 2016Ratings of Michigan Governor and Legislature
Fall 2009
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013
Spring 2014
Spring 2015
Spring 2016
Spring 2017
Spring 2018
Spring 2019Ratings of Michigan State Agencies
Spring 2014
Spring 2017Rating of own jurisdiction’s governing Board or Council
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013
Spring 2014
Spring 2015Ratings of U.S. President and Congress
Spring 2017
Spring 2018
Spring 2019Assessments of whether state and U.S. are on the right track
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013
Spring 2014
Spring 2015
Spring 2016
Spring 2017
Spring 2018
Spring 2019Public participation in decision making
Spring 2009
Fall 2009
Spring 2010
Spring 2015
Spring 2016
Fall 2016
Previous CLOSUP reports on democracy-themed survey topics
Reports available 2020-present
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- Michigan local government leaders’ concerns about the health of democracy edge upward, including at local level (2024)
- Michigan local government leaders’ assessments of democratic functioning improve from 2021 low, but first signs of trouble at local level emerge (2023)
- Michigan local leaders’ concerns about U.S. democracy at state and federal levels ease somewhat, but remain grim (2022)
- Michigan local officials’ assessments of American democracy at the state and federal levels decline sharply (2021)
- Michigan local government leaders say civic relationships and civil discourse remain healthy, despite worsening national politics (October 2022)
- MPPS Policy Brief: Statewide survey finds a majority of Michigan local governments experiencing harassment or other abuse (September 2022)
- Michigan local leaders report little change in the tone of civic discourse in their communities, but are concerned about local impacts of increasingly hostile national partisan politics (January 2022)
- The state of community civic discourse, according to Michigan’s local government leaders (December 2018)
- MPPS Policy Brief: Challenges continue for state-local relations, according to Michigan local government leaders (November 2023)
- Michigan local leaders’ views on state preemption and how to share policy authority (June 2017)
- Improving communication, building trust are seen as keys to fixing relationships between local jurisdictions and the State government (April 2017)
- Michigan local government leaders remain confident about their election security and administration, though concerns about disinformation increase (September 2022)
- Michigan local leaders expect increased challenges for the 2020 election, but are confident about administering accurate elections (October 2020)
- Michigan local leaders expect mixed impacts from expanded voter registration and absentee voting reforms (July 2020)
- Local leaders’ views on elections in Michigan: accuracy, problems, and reform options (November 2017)
- Confidence in the accuracy of Michigan’s 2020 Census count among local leaders was not very high, slips further (August 2020)
- Michigan local government preparations and concerns regarding the 2020 U.S. Census (September 2019)
- Michigan local governments actively promote U.S. Census participation (August 2010)
- MPPS Policy Brief: Despite two-year trend of improvement, most Michigan local officials continue to say the state is on the wrong track (May 2023)
- Local leaders’ pessimism about Michigan’s direction continues, but eases slightly from last year (July 2022)
- Local leaders’ concerns about Michigan’s direction spike, while evaluations of state leaders sink over the past year (July 2021)
- Local leaders' evaluations of Michigan's direction and Governor's performance during the COVID-19 pandemic's arrival(July 2020)
- New Governor, new evaluations of the direction Michigan is headed among local leaders (August 2019)
- Rising confidence in Michigan’s direction among local leaders, but partisan differences remain (July 2018)
- Michigan local leaders' doubts continue regarding state's direction (July 2016)
- Confidence in Michigan's direction declines among state's local leaders (August 2015)
- Confidence in Michigan’s direction holds steady among state’s local leaders (August 2014)
- Local leaders evaluate state policymaker performance and whether Michigan is on the right track (August 2013)
- Michigan’s local leaders more positive about Governor Snyder’s performance, more optimistic about the state’s direction (July 2012)
- Despite increased approval of state government performance, Michigan's local leaders are concerned about the state's direction (August 2011)
- Local government officials give low marks to the performance of state officials and report low trust in Lansing (March 2010)
Fiscal health and data transparency
